Born from Embers
by Abbeloo
Summary: A/U Percy Jackson is no son of the sea. Quite the opposite. He is a son of the Hearth. He is born on Olympus, by one of the most unlikely goddesses. He never grew up with Sally Jackson, he never went to Camp Halfblood, and he does what he thinks is right. Preferably in the most explosive way possible. Pairings? Percy's a teenager, He's all over the place!
1. Burn Baby, Burn!

Disclaimer: Honestly, who cares about these at this point? _I know I do!_ Oh shush. _This is the legal property of Mr. Riordan and various other parties with better lawyers than you could ever dream of having._...Shut up. _We do so appreciate the opportunity_ Seriously, just shut up and provide me with some inspiration, yeah?

...

Thought as much.

 **A/N**

Reupload, since I'm giving this story a complete reboot. Further details in ending author's note. Hopefully you'll like the new version!

/A/N

The Cyclops' face contorted in a rather comical way when the blade severed his spine. Of course, I couldn't see it at the time, since I was holding the knife that was currently lodged in several inches of monster-meat. But I imagine I'd be quite surprised as well if I was suddenly blasted in the face with a fireball, and while stumbling back to put out the flames, got stabbed in the back with twelve inches of razor-sharp imperial gold.

I straightened from my hunkered down position and brushed the golden dust off my shoulders. One less monster in the world. Also, one less sentry to warn the others of my arrival.

I picked up some of the fine powder from the ground and threw it in the air.

It seemed like the wind was blowing from the east. Brilliant. That meant they wouldn't catch my scent. A cold smirk tugged at the corners of my mouth while I started walking towards the camp at a brisk pace, planning how best to make my entry.

It was a freezing, harsh night. I'd glimpsed the moon between the clouds a few times, but the clouds blocked out most of the silvery light. Artemis had seemed to be in a rather foul mood lately. I drew my cape closer around my neck and felt the chill in my bones subside. Once again I marvelled at the piece of apparel. The cloth was thick but flowed freely in the air because of its asymmetrical cut. It was a nice charcoal black, matching my hair and eyes, with embroidery of metallic orange running across the fabric. A strip of hellhound-leather lined its edges as well, giving it a bit of protection from the everyday wear and tear. It was unnaturally warm, no matter what. I sent up another silent thanks to my mum, together with a teasing reminder not to spoil me too much. But the whole keeping warm-thing really does help a lot, since it lets me wear my usual combat gear no matter the temperature. Now, it isn't as fancy as the cape, but it's yet to let me down in a fight. The boiled leather pieces squeaked silently in the dark as I slowly crept between the trees. I did lack a helmet, simply because I prefer my field of vision to be as wide as possible when fighting. There's also the fact that my long, messy hair just looks ridiculous when put into a helmet, but I'd never admit that to anyone. Everything I actually did wear was tinted as black as possible to go with the theme, of course.

I slowed my steps as the smell of smoke reached my nose. I was getting close. This was going to be fun.

I stood from my personal little crater. Seems I knocked a couple of monsters over with my little light show. Me slamming into the ground after a fifty-foot drop has that effect on some. To be fair, it's partly their fault for setting up camp in a redwood forest. I mean, it wasn't even a challenge to sneak up on them by jumping from treetop to treetop and do a fiery version of a cannonball right down in their midst. (Don't worry, I am fully aware the redwood is endangered, so not a single one of my

flames made as much as a burn mark on the trees. Well, not an obvious one at least.)

My hand rested gently on the polished grip of the revolver I had strapped to my hip, while I took in the scene around me. Some of the mismatched tents that made up the camp had caught on fire, with a couple already fully ablaze. Monsters were scrambling for their weapons, and I felt my eyes heat up in their sockets. The whole scene before me slowed down, tinged a very slight reddish hue. Everything looked as if it was running in slow-mo, with the flames lazily waving at me from where they had taken hold, and the monsters looking at me with wide-eyed terror. I drew my gun, firing a round aimed at the closest cyclops that was reaching for his club. Recoil lifted the barrel nearly a full foot. The bullet tore through its skull, making its head whip back violently before it exploded into dust. The Empousa that was sitting on the ground next to it scrambled away as the fine gold mist covered her body. I cocked the hammer once more and shot the monster before she recovered, making her join the cyclops on the forest floor.

'Two down, about ten left. Let's get going I guess.' I thought as the next monster found itself in my sights.

Two more cyclops fell after receiving shots to the abdomen and chest respectively, and one hellhound exploded into mist when a bullet went clean through its lungs. Now several monsters were running in panic, and I had to kill another hellhound with my hunting knife as it regained consciousness and rose from the ground behind me. I buried the blade in its ribs and twisted with grim satisfaction until it shivered and started dissolving. As I straightened up, I felt a brief dizziness wash over me, and took a couple of quick breaths. The intense burning in my muscles and eyes dimmed to a more steady sensation of warmth, and the world returned to a more reasonable speed and colour.

As I was looking for a new target that wasn't already on fire or knocked out cold, I suddenly heard a roar from one of the collapsed tents. The canvas tore open, revealing one huge, lightly charred, and incredibly pissed of Laistrygonian giant.

"Shit." That was the only word that popped into my head when his eyes found my cloaked figure and looked at me with unfiltered rage in his black, piggish eyes. His stare was a bit more intelligent than your average giant, so I guessed that this would be the leader of the merry little band of beasties. They might not be the smartest monsters, these guys, but for a bloke with fire powers, fireproof monsters aren't the most amusing of things. However, I had no plans to die at the giant hand of some tattooed chunk of muscle. I dropped into a lower combat-stance before unloading my sixth and last round into his heart. At least, that was where it was supposed to go. Instead, a metallic clank was heard, and the giant grunted loudly.

'Damn. Chestplate.'

I mentally reprimanded myself for not thinking of that instead of wasting my last shot, before returning my attention to the battle. The giant had stumbled backwards from the force of the bullet, catching his foot on the torn tent behind him and pulling it with him. I returned my revolver to its holster and exchanged it for my short scimitar. In my left hand I kept the hunting knife because honestly, I've just never been a shield-type kind of guy. My attention was completely focused on my massive opponent and the equally massive iron-banded club he had hanging from his belt. This hopefully explains why I didn't notice the tied up girl, who was revealed when the tent's canvas was pulled away, until she whined against her gag while desperately struggling against her restraints. My eyes widened in surprise. This wasn't supposed to be a rescue mission. I was just supposed to disperse this little gang of monsters, and take down as many of them as possible while doing it. Oh well, changing the primary objective for this one. Luckily she seemed fully clothed. I tend to somewhat lose judgement when monsters go overboard with the evil and disgusting behaviour they're generally up to, so that was a good thing on more levels than one.

While the situation was a bit on the stressful side, I couldn't stop myself from inspecting her sort of tough "I take no shit from no one"-look. She really pulled it off. Tall leather boots, a pair of black denim tights, and a classic leather jacket over a band shirt with some aggressive looking logo on it. Her short black hair was almost as messy as mine, which is quite a feat, and her eyes…

'Oh shit.' She totally noticed I was staring at her. She had stopped wiggling about, apparently beaten by the ropes she was bound with, and was now looking at me instead with more than a little bit of curiosity. When I met her bright blue eyes her curiosity was replaced by pleading desperation, and I noticed for the first time just how worn out she looked. She had a gash running down her leg, her bottom lip was split, and her messy hair was matted by blood. I realised that I had been tracking this gang for several days through total wilderness, so she must have been captured quite some time ago. They must have kept her around just to taunt and hurt. The sadistic bastards. My eyes felt like small furnaces, smouldering brightly, as my anger grew and pulsed through my body.

I turned back towards my opponent, ready to kick some serious ass. Unfortunately, the laistrygonian giant seemed to have the same idea. When I looked away from the girl and towards the monster, I was met with a burning log being hurled in my direction. I barely had time to dodge the flaming piece of wood, even being clipped in the shoulder as it flew past. The pain numbed my left arm completely, making me grit my teeth at the smug-looking giant. I quickly sheathed my hunting knife and looked

at my opponent with contempt, returning to my combat stance and waiting for him to make the first move.

His beady eyes looked at me calculatingly before they quickly darted to the girl on the ground in between us. There was no way I could get to her before him, and he knew it. He looked at the wicked sword in my hand that gleamed in the firelight and I could almost see the decision being made in his head. He bellowed loudly and ran with heavy steps towards the girl. I barreled forwards as well, whipping my gun out as I went. When he saw the barrel being pointed at him and my finger squeezing

the trigger he instinctively jerked backwards and slowed down for less than a moment. The short second was all I needed. I leapt over the remains of the campfire and landed in a baseball-slide that made me end up by the strange girl's side. The giant had resumed his charge, and with a mere handful of meters left I could see he was focused on the new closest target. Me.

The club came down in a violent over-the-head swing, aiming to make me one with the dirt beneath me. Blocking the strike was definitely not an option. My sword wouldn't last thirty seconds under that kind of strain. Instead, I rolled back over my own shoulder and parried the redirected blow as I got up. As the club hit the dirt I quickly dove forwards and drew my blade along the giant's arm, damaging the tendons and hopefully lessening the force of the future strikes. He struck out with his damaged arm, flailing around wildly with an angry roar. Despite sidestepping the actual strike, I still got a face full of monster blood, which temporarily distorted my vision and made me stumble back slightly. The giant wasn't slow to take advantage of the situation and brought his club up in a thrusting motion. The blow caught me in the stomach with quite a bit of force, knocking the wind out of me. I whipped my sword in a sideways arch, trying to get some space. He simply rocked back when the sword flew past and continued his onslaught. The next blow hit me in the side, and pain tore its way through

my body. 'One, potentially two ribs broken, with slight internal bleeding.´I thought. This really wasn't sustainable.

I responded to the assault by cupping my free hand in front of my mouth and sending out a massive cone of fire in front of me. As the torrent of flames cut off, I stumbled, struggling to stay on my feet. I had to make this look good if I would have any chance to survive. I spat out some more, rather pathetic, flames and dropped heavily to one knee, seemingly from exhaustion.

The giant shrugged off the charred remains of the tunic he wore, completely unaffected by the heat. The metal in his chest plate glowed a dull red against his barrel-like chest. He smirked when he saw me on my knees, and decided some taunting was in place.

"Little demigod realised he's in over his head, did he?" the monster jeered. "You know what? Once I beat you, I'll strip you down and strap you to my standard. Then I'll use your beaten body and tormented screams to gather back all of the weaklings you scattered with your little firework show. Then we might let you join your little girlfriend as my personal little playthings. Considering how much of a pain in the ass you've been, you should consider it a mercy." he growled at me with bared teeth.

I had a really hard time sticking to the plan after that one. It was studiously cruel, and I've never been good at being belittled or mocked. But I managed to slowly get up and stand on unstable legs. The giant just laughed loudly, shaking his head as if he was scolding a child. He then swung his club from the side, knocking my scimitar out of my hand and sent it flying into the darkness. I just followed it tiredly with my eyes. The giant looked at me with sadistic joy. A closed fist to the gut made me drop to my knees yet again, and a heavy boot-clad foot followed close after. My whole body ached, and my ribs caused my breathing to be shallow and painful. I looked to the side to see the young girl a couple of yards away. She looked at me with sadness and pity. She had completely lost hope that I'd walk victorious out of this. Or hobble, at this rate. Hopefully, she was wrong about that.

The giant grabbed me by the throat and hauled me up close to his face. His warm breath stank of rotten meat and his yellowing teeth were uncomfortably close to my neck.

He leaned in close and growled in my face. "You're mine now, puny demigod."

My eyes sprung open, now with complete alertness. "Wrong." I said simply.

The fire in my eyes went red hot, burning like two kilns. Time yet again seemed to slow down drastically. I saw the giant's eyebrows go up in at a comically slow speed as I drew my hunting knife from beneath my cloak, and plunging it into the soft flesh under his jaw, I drove the blade through his skull and deep into his brain. He didn't even have time to realise what was happening before he exploded into a golden cloud. My head hit the ground with a thud, and the darkness of unconsciousness swallowed my vision in moments.

 **A/N**

Hey peeps. Alright, so I started writing this story a couple of years ago. Then a lot of stuff happened, primarily school (Where my IB-people at?), and it kinda fell by the roadside. Now, I'm bringing it back, because I really liked the ideas I had for this fic. I'll be editing the few chapters I already have out, just so it's not too much of a contrast between writing styles, and so I can get back into it before writing the rest. It might be a long journey, but I'll try my best to get through it this time. Go ahead and leave a review if there's something on your mind, and I'll read them all when I have time. See ya in the next chapter!

/A/N


	2. Hearthy meals and Hearty conversations

Disclaimer: Ugh. Yeah, I own nothing besides my laptop and the clothes on my back. Any inquiries about the intellectual property of Mr. Riordan's books can be made to his extensive team of lawyers.

 **A/N**

Updated and revised! Enjoy.

/A/N

I woke up a couple of minutes later. The fires around me were more or less burnt out, with cinders gently flickering in the darkness. Not a single monster, as far as the eye could see. I slowly sat up, inhaling sharply as my side felt like nothing but bruises. I gingerly unbuckled my chest piece and hiked my shirt up, and inspected the side of my ribcage. Some light prodding and several pained gasps testified that my initial diagnosis was correct, two of the ribs were some measure of fractured. And they hurt like hell,

"Hey, you okay?" The gentle but unexpected question made me flinch and whip my head around.

It was the girl, who I had completely forgotten about. I blame the inevitable concussion for that.

She had propped herself up against a tree trunk, and gotten rid of the rag she had in her mouth the first time I saw her. She was looking at me with genuine concern, but also a solid measure of caution. After the display I put on, I can't say I'm surprised. I'm guessing she was having difficulties determining if the crazy pyromaniac could be trusted or not, while simultaneously realising that right now she didn't have a lot of choices.

"That looks like it hurts a lot," she murmured while looking at my bruise with a concerned expression,

"if you get me out of these ropes I could have a look at it you know." Now she was looking into my eyes with furrowed brows. I was confused as to why she was sounding so unsure.

Anyway, I stood up and brushed myself off. I pulled back my hood and ruffled my hair a bit to get all the gold dust out.

"I've been through worse, but thanks for asking," I said with a crooked smile while tying my hair up in a ponytail with a black leather cord. I got an uncertain smile back. That's something at least.

"Nothing a little nectar and a good night's sleep can't fix. But let's see about those ropes." I looked around the forest floor, and finding my dagger I twirled it carefully in my tingling left hand before walking over to the girl. "Would you mind turning around for a sec?" I gave her a gentle smile and put a supporting hand on her shoulder while she wiggled onto her side to give me access to the binding. Some quick sawing later and she could sit back a bit less awkwardly, rubbing her wrists. The skin had the telltale angry blush from friction burns, and fresh scabs covered certain parts. Some of my earlier fury came back.

"Nothing a little nectar can't fix, right?" she said with a cheeky but somewhat pained tone. She'd caught me staring, again.

"Oh yeah, let me get that for you," I said as I rummaged through the impossibly deep pockets on my cloak. After a few seconds, I pulled out a hip-flask and a brownie-sized piece of ambrosia wrapped in cling film. She raised one eyebrow at the ambrosia as I reached out to hand it over.

"Stale ambrosia just isn't as nice as the fresh stuff, trust me. Even the food of the gods turns bad after a while. Been there, done that." I explained before waving the chunk enticingly in front of her. She picked it out of my hand and started tearing into the multiple layers of plastic.

"I wasn't complaining." she paused. "I've had basically nothing to eat for the last three days. My stomach feels like it's halfway to Tartarus." She said and shrugged. "It was just a weird habit, that's all."

While she was scarfing down the ambrosia I splashed some nectar onto a piece of unscathed tent canvas, and pressed it gently against my side. After a few seconds a warm, tingling feeling emitted from where the bruise was, and I could feel a slight itch underneath my skin as the ribs began fusing together again. I tried to help it along as well as possible with my rapidly draining energy reserves. A low grunt of satisfaction escaped my lips.

When the girl was done eating I simply held the flask in front of her and wiggled it in the same manner as I had the ambrosia. She took it gratefully and took a few mouthfuls. By now her wounds were almost all healed, but she still looked worn out as hell. She made a similar grunt as I had when she lowered the bottle and handed it back.

"Now, that's really good." A few seconds went by where we said nothing and just passed the flask back and forth, feeling our wounds heal and our energy return. When the nectar was all out she spoke again.

"You don't happen to have something stronger in that magical cape of yours flamehead? After the week I've had, I could really go for something a bit stiffer than nectar." She looked at me questionably, with a tilting smile and a posture that screamed attitude. I could see she wasn't completely unaffected by the ordeal, and some traces of the painful treatment were still visible in those bright blue eyes of hers even if she tried to mask it with cockiness. I couldn't resist chuckling at her nickname though.

"Flamehead?" I questioned incredulously and tilted my head.

"Yeah, well, you seem to like to set things on fire. And after what I saw here, I think you might have a few aggression issues. No offence." she answered and looked at me with a teasing expression. "And I don't really have the energy to get too creative." I chuckled again.

"Huh. I suppose it's pretty spot on then." She just nodded a quick affirmative and smirked. "But to answer your question, no, I don't have any booze on me." She frowned.

"But fortunately I've got something better." I said and winked at her. I then proceeded to stand and started tossing scraps from logs and collapsed tents into the small crater in the middle of the camp.

"Better than liquor? I somewhat doubt it." But nonetheless, she just settled back against her log and watched me move around with brisk efficiency. After a small pile of wood and cloth was stacked up I simply snapped my fingers to ignite it. What was the point of fire powers if you couldn't show off sometimes? I then started rummaged in my pockets.

"What are you looking for now? Marshmallows?" I could hear the curiosity in her voice as she tried to peak over my shoulder.

I said nothing, and instead just held the two tin cans I'd pulled out up to show her.

"Maybe next time, but for now, some hearty meat stew." I mentally chuckled at my hidden pun, but she just shone up at the mention of some real food, and didn't really notice.

I punched some holes in the tins with my hunting knife, before nestling them into the smouldering coals at the edge of the fire. Pretty soon they were bubbling and whistling quietly, The fires in her eyes paralleled mine when she looked at the food.

I dug around in some of the abandoned tents while our meal was boiling, and managed to find two crudely hammered metal cups that some of the more civilized monsters must have used, Picking the tins out of the fire I peeled back the lids and poured the stew into the cups.

Handing her the steaming meal, I observed her starving face as she got the first waft of the smells coming off the stew, The look in her eyes vaguely resembled that of a particularly feral wolf eyeing a sheep. Safe to say, I didn't have to wiggle the mug in front of her before she took it this tíme.

A heavy burp echoed through the woods as she set her mug down. I smiled behind my own cup at her content expression as she leaned back against her tree.

"Okay, that was just friggin' delicious. And that isn't just the three days of hunger speaking, let me tell you." I just smiled.

"Glad you liked it. You looked like you could use a nice home-cooked meal" She smiled gratefully back at me, but slightly raised one eyebrow.

"Home-cooked? I thought it was canned?" she asked.

"Well, yeah." I said, while rubbing my neck. 'If she thought me cling-filming my ambrosia was weird, she's gonna laugh at me for this.' "Since I'm on the road a lot, I sort of tend to miss home cooked meals out of here. So I kind of bought a canning machine so I could easily bring my food out here."

She eyed me sceptically.

"So you mean you take food cooked at home and put it in cans so you can easily bring them out here?" I threw my arms out in exasperation.

"Well, I can't bring my kitchen out here, can I? And I was raised with a serious appreciation for good, warm, food. Let me tell you." Her eyebrows went even higher.

"You cook? This incredible stuff?" She asked while pointing at her mug.

"Yeah, I suppose." I said, not understanding why she was so sceptical. She just huffed and looked annoyed. Then I vaguely heard her grumble to herself.

"He couldn't just be hot, he had to cook too…" I mentally chuckled, and grinned slightly to myself. Luckily the spiky-haired girl with the tough attitude didn't see it, or else I could have been in some serious trouble. Looking up, I noticed the sky was almost completely black, and realised how late it was getting.

"Well, anyways, it seems like we'll need to set up camp for the night. How about we get introduced for real? After all, my mum taught me not to talk to strangers. And definitely not sleep next to one." I said with a crooked smile. She looked up as well and nodded slightly.

"I s'pose. My name's Thalia," she said, stood, and stretched. "Oh, I almost forgot." I, as the curious sucker I was, made a questioning noise and looked up at her.

"Thanks for the whole saving me thing." I smiled at her.

"My pleasure." She gave me a sharp jab in the shoulder. It gave me a strange numbing feeling I didn't quite recognize.

"Don't look so smug, flamehead. You did almost get killed while trying after all." I just kept smiling.

"Debatable. But I'm Percy. Percy Jackson. Great to meet you." She gave me a quick smile back before returning to her previous look of toughness and attitude. I could definitely get used to that smile, if only because it seemed pretty rare.

I took the first watch, just in case any monsters returned looking for scraps.

While sitting outside of the tent we had set up, the least thrashed one, I went up through the events of the evening as I cleaned and reloaded my revolver. Thalia did have a point. It could definitely have gone better, even if it turned out alright in the end. Goddamn fireproof monsters. I have to learn not to rely too much on my abilities. There's also the fact that they were extremely exhausting to use. I mean, I might have faked a large part of my tiredness at the end of the fight, but I wasn't far away from reaching that state for real. Up until this point, my missions consisted mostly of hunting and killing the odd monsters and squads here and there, but my first meeting with something a bit more powerful wasn't exactly ideal. I've got some stuff to work on during my next hunt, to say the very least.

I jumped slightly when I heard the tent flap rustle behind me. Looking over my shoulder, I was met with a sleepy looking Thalia peeking out at me.

"Hey, I thought you were sleeping. Hope I didn't wake you." I said gently, with my brow furrowed in concern. She rubbed her eyes and yawned cutely. Again, not something I'd ever describe it as out loud.

"Nah, don't worry. Nightmare." Her dismissive tone made sure I wasn't about to ask her about it.

She looked curiously over my shoulder.

"That's really cool." She said, nodding at the firearm in my hand. "I've never seen anyone using guns on monsters. It seemed pretty effective." Her eyes were wide as she looked at the engraved barrel shining in the firelight. I held it up, appreciating the beauty of the piece. It was an old Colt, an 1851 Navy to be exact. The grips were polished ebony, and thin gold etchings covered the length of the revolver in winding geometric patterns.

"Yeah, it's a bit tricky to make it really efficient. I picked this model because of the relatively large calibre, and the cap and ball model of the rounds. It makes it pretty easy to make new bullets, but they need to be a specific alloy of godly metals."

'Does she know about the roman and greek aspects of the Olympians?' I glanced at her. She was still completely entranced by the gun. 'Might be best not to mention olympian gold or celestial bronze, just to be safe.' "Plus, I do give it a fair bit of extra oomph when it goes off. Fire and explosions mix pretty well y'know? If not for that, you'd need something like a mounted machine gun to get through most monsters' hides, and that's not really ideal." I smiled. It had been an idea at the early stage of planning with Hephaestus but had been quickly scrapped. Too bulky for the more mobile monsters.

She snapped out of it and looked me over a bit critically.

"I suppose. But it's still kinda strange. Actually, your entire equipment looks kinda odd." She tilted her head. "Where's that weird curvy sword of yours?"

My hand instinctively went to my hip, only to realise my scabbard was empty. 'Oh right. The sword. Shite.'

"Umm, I think it sort of went flying into the woods during the fight," I looked over pleadingly,

"Would you mind helping me look? It was a gift." She just huffed loudly, sounding slightly exaggerated to my ears, and stood up.

"Well, I'm not gonna be able to sleep for a bit anyway, so might as well." I grinned happily.

"Thank you Thals. Here, you might need this." I said while handing her a burning stick out of the fire.

"Thanks. Not everyone can light themselves on fire you know." She thumped my arm again, and the numbness returned even stronger this time. "Also, I never said you could call me Thals." Her deadpan expression made me chuckle.

"I know, that's what makes it fun." She just sighed and started walking into the forest, scanning the ground. The leaves crunched underfoot, and I made sure to keep track of Thalia's torch flickering between the trees. After a couple of minutes, I heard a shout of triumph from where Thalia was.

"Found it!"

I jogged in her direction, slowing down as I reached the little clearing she was standing in. When I got close to her I noticed she had a strange expression on her face. As I reached my hand out for the sword, I was met with a sharp, wavering tip keeping me at a distance. My brow furrowed in confusion, and she looked genuinely sad.

"You know, I really hate to do this, and I hope I don't offend you. I'm grateful that you saved me and all, but I've got serious problems when it comes to trusting people." Her face was now completely devoid of her normal mask of attitude, and I could see all the marks of all the painful things that had happened in her life. The sight broke my heart.

"So, I'm going to hold on to this until I feel like I can trust you, okay? Sorry, I really don't want this, but I just have no idea who you are and what you did out here burning monsters and killing stuff." her eyes were now misty, and her face was contorted as if she was in pain.

I had to do something. I shut my eyes for a second, and when I opened them again they were pure fire.

I gently pushed the sword out of the way, moving too fast for Thalia to react. I picked the blade out of her hand and stepped close to her slow-moving body. I let the fires in my eyes cool, and time moved normally again. The girl in front of me remained frozen in shock though. I stood silent for a heartbeat before I leaned in next to her ear. I made a split second decision. I don't really know where it came from.

"I'll always do my best to be honest with you." I paused. "I swear it on the Styx."

I stepped back as thunder rolled far far away. After flipping the sword so the hilt was pointed at her, I gently placed it in her hand. She was just looking at me in confusion. I kept stripping off my weapons, first the hunting knife and then the revolver, and placed them on the dirt in front of her.

"I hope you'll learn to trust me eventually. Take your time." I smiled sadly at her. "I'll be back at camp when you feel like returning." I then turned and walked slowly back to our tent.

It was a dark night, and the redwoods were towering above like silent giants.

The chilling breeze cooled my skin as I stripped off my armour and coat. I kept a pair of jeans and a t-shirt on for warmth as I lay down on one of the two bedrolls I had placed in the tent for us.

After about an hour I heard the canvas swish. I propped myself up by the elbows and looked at her as she entered. Her eyes were red, and I heard a muffled sniffle.

"You are just a genuinely nice guy, aren't you?"

I didn't know what to say, so I simply tilted my head and looked at her.

"Huh." She stopped talking and went over to her bedroll. But instead of lying down she gathered up her blanket and pillow, and walked over to me. I was just following her with my gaze, until she prodded my side with her boot-clad foot. I scooted over to make some room beside me. She plopped her pillow close to mine, and spread her blanket out carefully.

As she lay down next to me she leaned over and pulled my arm into a position where it was draped over her.

"Um, I know it's a weird thing to ask, but, hrm, keep me safe tonight?"

I gave her a small squeeze, pulling her just half an inch closer to my body.

"I promise." I heated my body up slightly to keep out the cool air that followed her into the tent, and fell asleep.

 **A/N**

Sorry for the sickly sweet chapter, but I needed these two to build some attachment early on. Trust me, there's a reason to it besides doe-eyed romance ideals. And it saddens me to say, but my version of Thalia doesn't really have the nicest of backgrounds. The next chapter will most likely contain a large portion of background stories and explanations of Percy's abilities and past. Brownie points to anyone being able to figure out why Percy's "perception" of time can change? I mean, he's still a son of Hestia, so it's got something to do with fire obviously.

A/N


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I am but a humble writer, expanding on the universe that belongs completely and fully to the merciful and benevolent Mr. Riordan. So please don't sue me or anything, yeah?

 **A/N**

Updated and revised! Enjoy.

A/N

My body ached as I woke up. I kept my eyes closed, mentally running through my injuries from last night. It wasn't great, to be honest, but considering it would have been a lot worse without the ambrosia and nectar, I didn't feel like complaining too much. Though, there was something tickling my nose that I really could do without. As I finally cracked my eyes open, I was met by a faceful of messy black hair. It took me a couple of seconds, until the mop of hair shuffled slightly and pressed up closer to me, that I realised that my arms were still wrapped around the surprisingly delicate rocker girl I met last evening. I stiffened slightly when she kept moving about in my arms, not wanting to wake her up now that she finally was able to get some real sleep. Luckily she just wiggled about for a moment before settling with a content sigh. I became aware of just how close she was when she moved, in one of the more exciting ways.

'Yeah, I'm definitely not complaining about this situation. The hormones, however, are slightly undignified,' I thought as I closed my eyes and held her warm body pressed against me. Despite that, I could actually get used to this.

I must have dozed off again, because the next time I opened my eyes the lithe girl was trying to squirm out of my grasp, which must have tightened up even further when I fell asleep.

With a low grunt, I untangled my arms and rolled over on my back so she could get loose from the blanket and arm-burrito I had her wrapped in. She was still wearing the same clothes as when I saw her yesterday, only today they looked even more crumpled. She also had those slight creases on the right side of her face that you get sometimes after a really good night's sleep. Safe to say, she looked adorable in a really sleepy sort of way. She mumbled something that might be construed, by a creative mind, as good morning. I grumbled something similar in return. Eventually, we both got the last cobwebs of sleep cleared from the various corners of our minds, and got out of bed.

"So you think there's somewhere around here where a girl can wash up a bit?" She said while reaching her arms far over her head and stretching, not dissimilarly to a cat.

"I'm pretty sure that giant got some of his gross blood on me yesterday." She continued, sniffing at her jacket and scrunching her nose up. "My clothes can probably use a quick rinse as well."

I furrowed my brow for a sec and tried to remember if I noticed anything fitting while hunting after the pack of monsters.

"I think I saw a pond a few hundred meters away when jumping through the treetops yesterday. It should be somewhere in that direction." I said and waved my arm towards the direction I had come from. She slowly got on her feet and rubbed her eyes.

"You don't happen to have a pair of sweatpants and a baggy hoodie in that cloak of yours? I could really use some comfortable clothes and a tub of ice-cream after the week I had." She asked while glancing at me expectantly.

I chuckled tiredly and shook my head.

"No, sorry, no sweatpants or ice-cream. It's kinda hard to keep it frozen out here. But I do have this." I pulled what looked like a thick sausage of stitched cloth out of a pocket and threw it to her.

As a response to her admittedly more amused than surprised look, I explained myself.

"It's a skivvy roll. It's a really compact way of packing a change of clothing. It contains a fresh shirt and underwear, rolled up inside a pair of really warm tube socks. A change of clothes is always good to have on the road." I said while smiling at her. She just chuckled at my antics.

A realization hit me that made my smile weaken a bit.

"Umm, I hope you won't mind, but I just have clean boxers in that." She looked at the roll and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I did kinda hope there wasn't a pair of panties in it. Then I'd be worried." The corner of her mouth rose to match her eyebrow in a smirk.

"But just for future record, I do prefer boxers over briefs, so you got that right at least." She winked at me and moved toward the exit of the tent. I just watched her bum as she crawled out. After all, I am still a teenaged guy, with or without the godly blood running through my system.

Another realisation hit me the second the tent flap closed behind her.

"Hey, wait!" A tangle of black hair poked back in, closely followed by Thalia's puzzled face.

"Huh?"

"Well, I just thought, since I didn't have any cosy clothing or ice-cream, how about I provide you with a warm bath instead?" She looked at me incredulously.

"You do realise we're in the middle of a forest, right?"

Now it was my turn to smirk. I just rubbed my palms together and raised my hand in front of me.

"Just come here, would you? I promise it won't hurt."

She cautiously put her hand to mine.

"Woah. That's weird." A gentle heat shimmer radiated from our joined hands, and I knew that there was currently a warm sensation spreading through Thalia's body, seeking out every nook and cranny and heating it up. I let my hand fall to my side after a couple of seconds. I didn't want to overdo it, because the consequences of that could be really bad.

"That should do it. Hopefully sufficient for a nice and toasty bath. But try to keep it short, it'll be sort of draining after awhile." Her eyes had adapted an ember-like glow, similar to mine, but not as intense.

"What did you do?" She curiously stared at her palm and then looked up at me.

"And how did you do it?"

I waved dismissively.

"I'll tell you when you get back, but as I said, it can become exhausting for the both of us pretty quickly. So go take your bath now, while you're all heated up."

She seemed to realise this might not be a permanent solution, and gathered up her things and shuffled through the tent flap yet again. Quite hurridly, one might add.

About twenty minutes went by before she returned to camp. By then I had gotten a fire going, and had gotten breakfast started. I was slowly rolling small pieces of bread dough, which I had quickly kneaded together from a flour mixture I just so happened to be carried around, and some water. After they looked a bit like worms, I threaded it onto a stick and propped it up over the fire.

That's where Thalia found me when she came back, slowly turning the stick while the bread was baking in the heat.

Now, I keep repeating that she's really cute, I know. But as she came into the clearing with a way too big black t-shirt and wet hair that gently curled around her face in its own spiky way, it was the only thought I could hold in my head. 'Cute'

"Hey, flamehead, I think you're burning breakfast." I had completely forgotten about the bread, so it was slightly browner than I'd hoped when I pulled it out of the fire.

As I put up the next piece of bread to bake, I handed the first to Thalia, and she broke off a piece and started nibbling on it before it even had a chance to cool off.

"Hungry?" I asked smiling.

"You have no idea. I don't normally eat a lot of breakfast, but today I'm absolutely starving." She tilted her head and looked at me.

"Is that because of that heat thingy you did earlier?" She asked.

"Yeah, probably. At least partially. It's sort of hard to explain, but I essentially raised your metabolism by increasing the rate with which you burn energy. Kind of like having a little rocket furnace in your muscles. It heats you up a fair bit, so I thought it could help against the cold water. It also helps with healing wounds, and can raise the speed at which you can move for a while."

She looked at me a bit puzzled, but she seemed to get the basic concept at least.

"Oh right." She bent her head and looked at the ground. "Sorry about yesterday."

"Huh?" I had been paying attention to the bread that was currently baking, so I hadn't completely caught what she had said because of her low tone.

As I looked up, the regular atmosphere of attitude I had come to expect from Thalia was completely gone. Instead, she looked vulnerable, something that seemed completely misplaced on her face.

"That's what you did yesterday, right? When you killed the giant, and then again when… when I… pointed the sword towards you. You moved really fast, faster than a body should allow." She refused to meet my gaze and had stopped eating. Again, I felt awful.

"Hey. Stop it. You didn't do anything wrong." I shuffled over a bit so that I sat next to her.

"We only met yesterday, remember? I came flying out of the sky and killed a bunch of monsters. After the shitty time you've had, you're pretty entitled not to trust me immediately."

She finally looked up, and her slightly red eyes found mine.

"But that's just the thing. I do trust you. I don't know why, but you're so nice to me, and I haven't done anything to deserve it. People don't really care about strangers like that, much less someone like me. I've always been on my own, which is why I've never really thought about too much, but you coming along really sort of messed that up, didn't it? Because I don't want to be on my own again after I met you. Just sleeping in your arms made me feel safe, something that I've never felt in a long long time. And I don't even know why I did that! I mean, I don't even like physical contact for Zeus' sake!" She turned towards me, and her energy seemed to fall away.

"But I can't let myself become this dependant on someone I've just met. I just can't, okay? Not if you're going to just go on your merry way after dropping me off at the nearest, what, truckstop?" She could barely speak, her jaws were clenched so tight. Tears were now slowly falling from her eyes. My heart was breaking a bit with each one.

"But I feel so horrible for treating you like shit because of my problems. You've never done anything but be nice to me." She struck out with her arms and laughed morosely.

"I mean, you probably saved my life yesterday, and what did I do? I pointed your own sword against you and told you to keep your distance."

She paused, and I looked at her quietly for a few short breaths. Then I very slowly reached out and cupped her cheek. She didn't shy back, which gave me the slightest bit of hope. She looked me square in the eye, and it was like the air between us got heavy. As if there was a storm brewing. I dried a tear with my thumb and finally responded.

"I used my powers yesterday. And you pointed a sword at me. And it felt horrible. But not because of the sword, but because you looked so hurt." The tension in the air lessened, and I realized the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I continued speaking anyway.

"You seem to remember a lot about yesterday's events, but do you remember what I did after I used my power?" She looked at me with a furrowed brow and shook her head slightly. I dried another tear.

"Well, the way I remember it, I swore to always try to be honest with you. And then I hope you can get the implications when I say that I have no ambitions of leaving you any time soon." She sniffled quietly. I barged on. "I don't tend to get attached to people. But when I do, they're stuck with me." I dried the last of her tears. "It's okay Thals. I know you've had a hard time. Probably for a long time before I met you. And I'm not saying everything is great now. But I promise I'll be here. Because like you said, I have no idea why, but I genuinely care about you, and waking up with you in my arms was the greatest thing I've ever felt. So for now, I'll keep being flamehead, and you'll just be stuck with me." During the last part, I gave her a slightly crooked smile. Humor rarely hurts.

She exhaled with a noise that sounded like something between a huff, a laugh, and a sob.

I took that as a good sign. My mom had a saying when I was a kid. 'When nothing seems to help, a warm embrace and a hearty meal at least can't hurt.'

I gently moved my hand from her cheek to her back, and then pulled her close. I raised my body temperature slightly, and radiated small amounts of heat. She simply burrowed her face into my neck and hugged me back.

After a few minutes, she lightly tapped my back, and I let up a bit. She pulled away, but only so that her face was a couple of inches from mine.

"Thanks, flamehead." was all she said, and then she kissed me on the cheek. I just smiled at her as a light red tint reached my cheeks. Then I got an idea.

"Hey, close your eyes for a second, would you?" She furrowed her brow for a moment, but then she slowly closed them. I could see she was as tensed up as a violin string. I really hoped she could learn to trust me fully in time, but for now, she at least trusted me enough to close her eye.

I stretched my neck slightly and gave Thalia a quick kiss to the forehead, before retreating and observing the reaction I got. The tension in her shoulders lessened, as a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She slowly opened her eyes.

"Wow. You really are a sap when you're not being a fiery ball of rage, you know that?" The tugging had turned into a small smirk, and paired with her puffy eyes, she looked… I don't know. If you've ever comforted someone to the point of smiling, you'll know what I'm on about. It's a raw kind of lively beauty. I smiled in return, but gently shoved her and acted offended.

"Hey, it's not my fault. My mum is old-fashioned, and it rubbed off on me. Now shut up and eat your breakfast." I gave her shoulder a light squeeze, before peeling the still warm bread off the stick next to me.

"Okay, but just because I'm so goddamn hungry. When I'm finished, I'd like to hear more about your powers and why the hell you dropped out of the sky like a bloody meteor. You've still got a lot to explain." I grinned and made my eyes flare a bit. She rolled her eyes in return.

"Alright, but that's only if you eat up." Satisfied, she nodded contently and took a big bite from the bread. I leaned back, happier than I'd been in a while, and did the same.

After breakfast, we started packing up, trading small bits of banter back and forth. Considering we were a few miles away from the nearest road, we'd be hiking it through the forest for a couple of hours. Plenty of time for other kinds of conversations, even though I could almost feel the curiosity radiating off of Thalia. She got her stuff together quickly, considering there wasn't too much of it besides the dirty clothes she had worn before getting changed. We left the two bedrolls where we found them, and the various things I had brought stowed away nicely in the various pockets on my cloak. I put out the fire and took one last look around the camp. There were a few pieces of paper scattered inside the Giant's tent, but nothing useful survived both the fire and the trampling by the various fleeing monsters. Eventually, it was time to hit the road. We barely made it outside of the border of the encampment before the first question escaped her lips from behind my back.

"So, like, who are you? Really? Some kind of obscure minor god of fireballs?" I briefly considered not outright denying the allegation, just to see what she'd make of it. Then I realized that that might not be a good idea, considering I didn't exactly know the full extent of the impulsive oath I made just a handful of hours earlier. Plus, Hephaestus is really a pretty cool guy, so I didn't want him thinking I was trying to take over his territory. That wouldn't be good.

"Not a god, no. I'm a demigod, like you." I paused briefly, sending a glance over my shoulder and seeing a look of scepticism on Thalia's face. "Well, alright, not exactly like you. But pretty close,"

I rubbed my neck for a second, realizing that I might have benefitted from a quick wash last night as well. I had a fair bit of road dust covering my skin after a week of tracking.

"My godly parent kind of got me in a rather… unorthodox way. And since I'm her only kid, I got a pretty high concentration of the powers in her domain." I passed a rather sheepish smile her way, with just a hint of embarrassment tagged onto it. "But you'll probably get to meet her eventually, so she can tell you about that stuff better than I can." Since I had turned back to keep an eye on the rather winding deer path we were following, I missed the sight of Thalia's eyebrows nearly disappearing beneath her spiky bangs at the last statement. "Anyway, besides that, I really am just Percy. Certifiable pyromaniac and saviour extraordinaire." Just to prove the point, I lifted my hand and let tiny flames flicker to life at the tip of each finger before wiggling them slightly. I heard a snort from behind me and grinned happily before extinguishing my hand and putting it back into my pocket. "So, that's who I am. But more importantly," I lifted my eyebrow in the same way I'd seen Thalia do earlier before spinning around, "who exactly are you? You seem like you should be at camp at this point, considering your age and your apparent knowledge of the gods. You out on a quest, or did the satyrs just never managed to find you?" I said it in a joking tone, but as soon as the words were out, I saw her face darken. Much like a sudden storm, blocking out the sky with heavy clouds.

"Oh, the satyr found me alright. Me and two others. Nearly made it all the way to camp Halfblood as well, before everything went tits up." She shrugged, nearly violently, and the storm clouds went away as quickly as they came about. She smiled, with a slight tension visible around her jaws. "I'd really rather not talk about it, yeah? But it all ended with my plans for a nice stay at their lovely camp pretty fucked. So I've drifted around on my own since then, doing my best to stay alive." I saw a slight sheen cover her eyes. "Guess that plan wound up pretty fucked as well, based on how you found me."

My face contorted as I started understanding how tough Thalia must have had it. Demigods went to the camps around, what, eleven? Rarely later than thirteen at least. And for good reason. As soon as their powers started becoming apparent, they'd have monsters coming after them with a vengeance, and the camps were there to keep them safe until they learnt how to fight. Judging by Thalia's appearance, she must at least be past her 17th birthday. She must have been on her own for years, running around as a living magnet for all manners of monsters. How could the gods let that happen? What kind of parent let their kid live in constant mortal danger? I realized far too late that I had stayed silent for too long, and that my blood felt like it was quickly reaching what felt like a boiling point.

"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to go through that." She looked at me curiously, with that light sheen still over her eyes. She shook her head slightly, making her spiky hair bounce a bit.

"I didn't really have a choice. My dad made that very clear. It was either this or something that was far too close to death for my liking. So I chose to keep running. It wasn't so bad. I'm still here, right?" Again that tight smile that made my chest ache.

"But you shouldn't have had to be alone. No one should have to be alone like that." I had quieted down a fair bit, matching the soft voice she was using.

"Percy, it was my own choices that put me here. My dad just wanted me to be safe." I could hear a tiny waver in her voice. Just a tiny one. But it was still enough to push me past the point of passivity. I could feel my face harden as it did before a big fight.

"And who is your dad?" She hesitated for the span of a breath or two.

"Zeus." Of course. She was the daughter of Mr. Can't-keep-it-in-his-pants Zeus. The biggest bastard on Olympus. I'd bet every single Drachma I had ever owned that the decision to put Thalia in danger by having her running around alone had more to do with covering Zeus' own ass than any misguided attempt to keep her safe. It angered me beyond description, but the rage I felt was a cold one. It didn't make my blood heat up. It settled in the pit of my stomach, nesting there like a Hydra ready to strike. Returning to reality, I realized Thalia wasn't meeting my eyes. At some point, we had stopped walking, just standing in the middle of the path facing each other. This was obviously an unpleasant subject for her as well. I had to say something.

"I guess that explains the tingling sensation." Something that wasn't _that_. Thalia's eyes snapped up in surprise. I quickly started stammering out the next thing that came to mind, "I mean, you know, when you hit me? I get all tingly." This really wasn't going well. I could feel a blush rising annoyingly quickly. " _Numb_. It makes me numb, like an electric shock?" The surprise wasn't enough to keep her from laughing out loud at my stiff attempts to salvage the situation. Three good laughs, from the stomach. I just stood there like a complete tool, blushing furiously, while she wiped away a tear or two and held her belly. "It wasn't _that_ funny y'know. I just misspoke." It didn't seem to help as I was undeniably facing a madly giggling rocker. I mean, I can handle monsters pretty well, but a cute girl laughing at me was a lot more complicated.

After a minute, she finally straightened up and wiped her cheeks dry. At least her smile wasn't one of those clenched ones she tried pulling off earlier, which made me a bit happier with the situation.

"Thanks for that flamehead. Really. I don't remember the last time I laughed like that."

I just nodded stiffly, trying to save the last shreds of my poor dignity. But when her eyes met mine I couldn't help smiling. Just a little bit. I turned back around and resumed trekking through the woods.

Barely five minutes passed before;

"So I make you all tingly eh?"

"Shut up Sparky."

 **A/N**

Alright, a slightly longer chapter this time, but it felt weird cutting this conversation into pieces. Hopefully it didn't get too forced. As always, do leave a review if you have the time and energy. I appreciate any and all feedback!

/A/N


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